


Mind over Matter

by Half_Blood_Princeling



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-11-21
Updated: 2020-02-25
Packaged: 2021-02-25 20:30:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21513292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Half_Blood_Princeling/pseuds/Half_Blood_Princeling
Summary: Diana McCall finally makes it to the BAU, just to hit the ground running with a case involving the deaths of six women in the golden state of California. Hoping this is her chance to run from the past, Diana embraces this new step forward, all the while, her heart softening under the guidance of a kind-hearted Italian agent. Case by case, Diana only just begins to feel safe with the separation between her and the brutal assault that had altered her life, but even jail can only keep your past away from you for so long.
Relationships: David Rossi/OC, Jennifer "JJ" Jareau/William LaMontagne Jr.
Kudos: 3





	1. Diana McCall

“Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.”  
~ Albert Einstein

She had made it. Quantico, Virginia. Having made it into the FBI Academy had sent shockwaves through her small, Ohio town, but now having received her acceptance into the Behavioral Analysis Unit almost gave her father a heart attack. 

“Don’t do it. It is too dangerous. You know what they do every day, right? You could get shot at, blown up even.” Her father had said the night she had informed him of her new position. Diana knew he would attempt to dissuade her; he had never been much of a supporter of her endeavors with the FBI. This was why she had not told him until she was finishing her packing the night before her departure to the BAU. When her mother had been alive, she had not been able to hear enough about Diana’s interests in language and how she wanted to use that to save people’s lives. She had spent the last decade of her life training in different areas of combat, so much so that she was well known among security forces around the world and was often called in to teach what she had learned to others. Diana had become a weapon, able to defeat her enemies with words as well as twisting them to her desires through pure physical force. And finally, after years and years of attempts, the BAU had finally paid her a notice. 

She had been mid-lesson on an average Wednesday self-defense class when Sarah, the office secretary interrupted saying that there was an Agent Aaron Hotchner on the phone for her. And in that moment, Diana McCall never ran so fast as in those seconds it took to get to that phone. Many flustered ‘thank you’s’ later, Diana hung up the phone and could barely contain a squeal of excitement. They wanted her. She was a member of the BAU, and from that moment on, the only thought running through her head now was how smooth “Agent McCall, FBI” sounded. 

And that was how Agent Diana McCall found herself standing before the front doors of the BAU with her heart pounding out of her chest and her stomach full of very agitated butterflies. She was so afraid of making a mistake and ruining her reputation that she almost turned tail and ran, but the shame of coming home without even stepping through the door overruled that fear. So, with a nervous sigh, Diana took her first step forward, unable to stop because she knew if she did, she would not be able to start again. Few people paid her any attention which, oddly enough, calmed her nerves. Walking up to the front desk, she inquired about directions to the BAU offices and was told that it was on the fifth level of the building, to which she smiled and said thank you before finding herself in an overcrowded elevator headed to the fifth level. As each level passed, her heart rate seemed to pick up, despite how much she wished to be calm. She had faced new jobs before, but none like this. Being so nervous was normal, right?

Before she could find an answer to that question, level five arrived and Diana stepped out of the elevator only to be greeted by an Agent who was very stern of feature, tall, and devishly intimidating. “You must be Agent McCall. S.S.A Hotchner; we spoke over the phone.” The man said, sticking out his left hand. Left-handed, Diana thought, making a mental note of that as she shook his hand firmly. “Yes, a pleasure to finally meet you in person.” Diana murmured as she fell in stride with Hotchner as he began to walk. 

The air about this floor was one full of tension, as was expected with this sort of job. After a quick succession of turns down various bland, brightly lit hallways, Diana and Agent Hotchner arrived through a pair of glass doors into a room that was surprisingly large and open. This was not how she had expected the BAU to look, but her thoughts had been a little dark when reading the files on the cases she would have to participate in. But reading files was a lot different than actually seeing these cases in person. That thought alone made her realize how truly unprepared she was for this job, despite all she had seen in her years among the force. It took a special sort of person to do these jobs and she was about to find out if she was one of those particular people. 

There were a couple groupings of cubicles and above them was a level that held multiple offices, each door labeled with a name. “I’ll introduce you to the team, give you a moment to settle at your desk, and then show you to our conference room. We have a case to get to. Are you prepared to hit the ground running?” Agent Hotchner inquired, in all seriousness as he stopped before an empty desk with a desktop in one corner. Diana set her things down and turned to face Hotchner. “Yes, of course.” Was all she said in response. As if on cue, five people walked through the same doors that they had moments ago and seeing the flicker of recognition cross Hotch’s face, and Diana came to the conclusion that this must be the most of the team, if not all of it. Hotch gestured for them to come over and they did as was asked, and moments later, six complete strangers surrounded her new desk.

“Agent McCall, this is Derek Morgan, J.J., Doctor Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss, and Penelope Garcia, our technical analyst. This is Diana McCall; she will be joining our team, for the time being.” Hotch said, taking a quick moment to introduce everyone. Everyone gave a smile and a wave as their name was mentioned, to which Diana responded with a smile. She hated being on the spot like this, yet she knew she would have to get used to it. Her years teaching classes, as well as participating in other activities her previous jobs had required had helped her overcome such discomfort when introduced to a group. They seemed friendly enough, so her discomfort washed away in a moment. 

“Where is Rossi?” the one named Derek inquired to Hotch. Rossi; that name was Italian, the most common meaning of the name being red-haired or ruddy-complexioned. Diana could only imagine what he looked like. “He was giving a lecture in City Hall. He should be here soon enough. I want you all in the conference room in five minutes.” Hotch said, before turning and striding up the stairs to his office. Diana got the feeling that Agent Hotchner’s orders did not often get questioned. And he had forgotten to show her this conference room, so she hoped her new acquaintances would not leave her in the dust.  
It was in that moment that Diana realized all gazes had returned to her. “So, what was it you were hired for? Hotch must think you are something important if you got on his radar.” Penelope asked, leaning forward as if Diana was the most interesting person in the world at this moment. “I specialize in linguistics, translation, and defense tactics.” Diana explained simply, as no one had expressed an interest in her odd combination of experience, yet this group seemed interested enough. But it was also a part of their job; to understand every trait of those who they worked with, and to know why each and every person on that team had made it on. And they did not know her, and she did not know them, but they would have to take that in stride, for that is how the best teams functioned. 

“What other languages are you fluent in?” Reid inquired, his head tilting to the side as if to analyze her. The first impression that she had gotten off of the Doctor was a great intelligence. Awkward in some social situations, Reid seemed to hide behind his intelligence, impressing those around him with his immense amount of knowledge. But those who knew him personally understood that while he was intelligent beyond belief, he wanted to be accepted and understood. Diana had to take a moment to count in her head and the number she came to was sixteen. “Sixteen, I believe. It could be seventeen.” She said, taking a moment’s pause to rethink her answer. “No, it’s seventeen. Seventeen other languages. ” Diana finally said with determination, a soft smile attaching itself to her features.  
“That is impressive. I’d ask you to say something, but Hotch is drilling holes into the back of my head so I take it is about time to go up there.” J.J. said before turning to lead the way. As they made their way up the stairs to the next level, not one of them noticed the lone male join the tail-end of their group. As they made their way up the final steps, Derek turned around to flash a smile at Diana, before asking a question that she had been asked on all too many occasions.  
“What is the most obscure language you know? Wait, do not tell me, just say something and let me guess.” He requested, a determined grin on his features. A laugh escaped from both Emily and Penelope as they shared a look. “This should be interesting.” Penelope chortled. From the eye-rolling and smirks, Diana guessed that this behavior was typical of Morgan. Diana already knew the answer to his inquiries and knew there was no possible way he could recognize the language she was intending to show off. He did not seem like the type to delve enough into pop culture to know the language she was pulling on. 

“Êl síla erin lû e-govaned vîn. Pedin i phith in aníron, a nin ú-cheniathog.” Diana said, speaking with absolute clarity as they all walked into the conference room, the lone man that had joined them moments earlier staying behind by the door. He was curious to see what Morgan’s answer would be, as he already knew the answer himself. One of the two languages David Rossi had learned, other than English, in his early childhood had been Italian and Tolkien Elvish. Italian, he had learned simply because of his interest in his ancestry, and Elvish, because he had needed something to occupy his mind from the world of war, during his time serving. 

“Is that Greek?” Morgan asked as he took his designated spot at the round table that seemed to take up most of the room. “No, it isn’t.” Reid answered quickly, before anyone got a word in. “There are traces of Welsh and Finnish in the phrasing, but I have never heard that language before.” The Doctor expressed, looking vexed, like a lost child in a candy store. Before another word was spoken, a sound reached Diana’s ears that was most beautiful. Never had she had a conversation with someone who could understand Elvish, or understand anything more than a simple ‘hello’, yet behind her, a voice like chocolate responded to her in perfect clarity.  
“Pedin edhellen, hiril vuin. Peditham hi sui vellyn?” David Rossi spoke, coming into Diana’s eyesight, an awestruck expression on her features. Before her stood a man, clearly in his early fifties with dark brown eyes, and black hair with bits of grey and, in the right light, bits of red. He stood above her at almost six feet, and while his stature was thin, he was well-built and his stance held power; an obvious Alpha male. He wore a dark blue dress shirt, under a suit jacket, along with a pair of denim jeans and shiny, Italian shoes. His voice was low and intimidating, but his eyes were a chocolate brown that held a soft kindness, and her heart fluttered in her chest for a moment. Through deduction and reasoning, she could only guess this was the David Rossi that had been mentioned earlier. “Diana, this is Agent Rossi. David, Diana McCall, the newest addition to the BAU.” Hotch said, giving a quick introduction. “Now, may we get started?” Hotch inquired, clearly not expecting anything other than ‘yes’ for an answer. 

“I would like to know what they just spoke first, as I will be curious throughout this whole presentation and I will need something to think about while we are shown more gruesome images on a very large screen.” Garcia said, offering an innocent smile. There was a moment’s pause before Rossi answered her question as he took his spot across from Diana. “It was Sindarin Elvish, created by J.R.R. Tolkien before he wrote The Lord of the Rings. She simply said that she could say whatever she wanted because none of us would understand her. I responded by saying that I spoke Elvish and asked her if we could now speak as friends.” He explained, before leaning back in his chair, expression neutral and eyes forward. The smile of simple admiration had still not slipped from Diana’s face, and Penelope almost jumped out of her seat with awe. “I like her. Can we please keep her?”

That question brought a few chuckles from around the table and before any more distractions could be brought up, J.J. stood up to begin presenting the case. “Humboldt County. Six women have been found over the past four weeks. Originally, there was no connection made, as all of the bodies had looked to be animal attacks.” J.J. said, clicking the remote in her hand so that three pictures came onto the screen. Each picture showed a young woman with brown hair ranging from dark brown to almost red. Their bodies were covered in dirt, and their faces held fixed expressions of pain and discomfort, despite their eyes being closed, and their hearts no longer beating. But the thing that caught all their attentions were the five long wounds that ran themselves diagonally across each of the woman’s torsos. The first thought that came to Diana’s mind were claw marks, like those of a cat. She could clearly see where Humboldt County Police got the idea of animal attack. Mountain lion population had been growing, albeit slowly, but growing nonetheless and more sightings had been seen in recent years, especially in this county in California.  
The next three women that showed up on the screen were all in the same condition, yet there was something different about their wounds. Along with the diagonal wounds across their torso, their throats had been torn. Not slashed or broken, but torn, as if teeth had been used. “Clearly these wounds are similar, but how do we know that a human did this?” Derek said, tilting his head to the side in a curious manner. That was when Reid spoke up. “The report said that while there were traces of cougar fur in the wounds, it was the most recent victims that convinced them that this was something more. The coroner reported that while those victims died of blood loss, it was not from the wounds in their necks. Those were made post-mortem. And mountain lions are known to go for the throat first, and they almost never just kill for the fun of the act. These bodies were left completely intact, other than their wounds. Whoever did this, knows cougars well enough to imitate wounds that would be received in the scenario of a cougar attack.” 

With eyebrows furrowed, Diana opened the case file that had been passed in her direction, looking down at the first picture. Five long claw marks running jagged down the torso. The one thing that made her question these theories about mountain lion attack was, among other things, the fact that cats do not scratch with all five claws, only the four forward claws. These bodies had five long marks, and nothing else. No attack to the jugular to start off the attack, no puncture wounds in the back, no defensive wounds, no nothing. And the fact that the throat wounds on the most recent victims had been given post-mortem gave her even more room to question what was running through this killer’s head. Diana traced all five scars with her nails, as if trying to recreate the act herself in an attempt to understand, before lifting her eyes to the sound of a question being asked in her direction. 

“What do you see?” Hotchner asked, his steely gaze turning to her. This was the beginning of her test, she could see that. She knew she wouldn’t get everything right, yet she knew she could not afford to get much wrong in this line of work. “Do they truly believe this is a spike in animal attacks?” She asked, her eyes moving from Agent Hotchner to J.J. 

“As of now, that is the verdict that the public believes. Officer Ashton, Chief of Police down in this county, believes differently, which is why we have been invited in on the case.” J.J. said. “Okay, because these wounds are very much human. The only animal large enough to make such wounds on a human, and that would live close enough to human population would be mountain lions, as was mentioned earlier. But any cat, no matter what size, will only leave four claw marks; their thumb is not flexible enough to get the angle of that fifth gash. And even if they manage to get that fifth gash, it would not be the same length as the other gashes. That fifth gash is.” Diana said, gesturing to the fifth claw mark left on the bodies. 

“According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, the last fatal mountain lion attack was in January, 2004, but that was in Orange County. There was an attack in Humboldt County in January of 2007, but that was nonfatal. The last recorded attack in California was a nonfatal attack on a 6 year old boy in Santa Clara County in September of 2014.” Garcia said, turning her laptop towards the group so whoever wanted to could see the statistics. “If these are correct, either someone is not reporting and recording a rise in mountain lion attacks, or this really is a serial killer.” Garcia said, her usual happy-go-lucky expression turning grimmer in nature.  
“Whoever did this had large enough hands to where he could get that fifth gash on the ribs, but did not want anyone to catch on that this was done by anything other than a cougar. I’d have to look at these bodies but from these pictures, these wounds were done by claws, not human nails, which makes this case even more curious, as this killer is going to great lengths to hide what he has done. Whoever did this, knows what he’s doing and is smart enough to attempt such a way of hiding his acts of violence.” Diana said, trailing off. “But not smart enough as he has made quite a few large mistakes.” J.J. commented. There was a moment’s pause before Agent Hotchner stood up with a grim expression. 

“Pack up, we are going to California. The jet leaves in an hour.”

Diana gave a quick look around, a bit confused and a bit more awestruck. “You guys have a jet?” That question, although not intended to be, seemed funny to a few of the team members as they followed each other out the door. “That question never gets old, does it?” Emily said with a grin. 

“No, it certainly does not,” replied Morgan.


	2. David Rossi

Another lecture had come and gone, and towards the end of his morning, David Rossi wished with all his power, that the lecture would come to an end, for reasons he had yet to figure out. He enjoyed teaching, and it gave him great pride to see so many attend his lectures, yet this lecture had been yet another one about serial killers and that was his least favorite of lectures to give. And yet, it was the most popular so he was always requested to give it again and again. But his cell-phone had gone off in the middle of the lecture, and with much apologies, he had to end it all early as he had been called into Quantico. 

And now, a few hours later, David found himself thousands of feet up in the air staring down at a file containing six very confusing murders. Despite his wish to stay focused on the case before him, David found himself distracted at the moment by the new, very intriguing addition to this team. David and Aaron had discussed the idea of a new addition to the team, but could not think of any qualifications that another member could bring that was not already present. But when Diana McCall’s file had passed over their desks, something about her qualifications seemed useful enough. Linguistics was something they had with Prentiss, yet another language-oriented mind would not hurt. Especially one that knew seventeen languages, on top of the three that Emily was fluent in. It was her qualifications in defense tactics that had caught their attentions. Her name had reached their ears on multiple occasions, being one of the most well known teachers in self-defense and tactics in record. Her file had not come with a picture, but the woman he had come upon speaking Elvish was not the woman he had pictured in his head. 

Her features were elegant, but soft; when he had seen her earlier, the way she had held herself reminded him of royalty. She seemed unsure of herself, as if she were afraid to be wrong, a trait he held himself, although he had learned to hide that long ago. Her hair was that of light fire, falling like waves cascading down to the middle of her back, outlining her regal features. Her eyes were what had taken him back; they were a dark green, like an evergreen with flickers of sunlight passing through its leaves. They were beautiful and he had been captivated by them since the first moment. She had a sparse amount of freckles placed along her cheeks and across the bridge of her nose, giving her a younger appearance than her true age. She appeared deep in thought, her mouth turned downward. Shifting in her seat, Diana took a sip from the coffee cup in her hand before lightly licking her lips, an action that did not go unnoticed by Rossi. Her eyes had not diverted from her case file since they had ascended into the air. It was about time they both had a break from looking at those pictures. Closing his own copy of the file, Rossi stood up and slid quietly into the seat across from the newbie. There was no possibility that they would get the chance to have any sort of private conversation, should they speak in English, and he understood that the moment he had decided to change seats. 

“Close the file for a few minutes. You have been staring at it since we got on this plane.” Rossi said, leaning forward and placing his hands together on the table between them. Diana looked up and smiled, pausing a moment before obliging to his request. “As have you.” She replied simply, her eyes diverting to his file he had closed only moments before. Giving her half a smile, he nodded. “I suppose we both are in need of a moment’s rest from that file.”

There was a moments silence before Diana crossed her legs and tilted her head to the side, as if ready to ask a question. “I have heard a lot about you, David Rossi. Despite having never read them, a couple of your books are a hot topic among many of the police stations and detective agencies I have worked for. Yet, in none of them was it mentioned that you spoke any other languages, let alone one that was created simply for a work of fiction.” Diana said, her voice hinting her intrigue. “What made you choose Elvish, of all the artistic languages you could have chosen from?” She asked, clearly curious. 

David smiled fondly as the answer to that question came forward in a memory. “I was enlisted during the Vietnam War, and there were many occasions where we were left with a lot of time on our hands and very few activities to do. We were allowed to bring one thing from home along with us. Many chose to bring pictures of loved ones, or small trinkets that held meaning. My choice was a copy of The Lord of the Rings. I read through it with a fire and once finished, I had run out of things to do, at least in a recreational sense.” David said, speaking softly as he noticed that Diana was no longer the only one listening to his tale. Rossi was not often open with things of his past, so this information was new to many people on the team. So with that in mind, Rossi continued, treading carefully.

“In the back pages of my copy, the editors went into great detail about these languages that the author had created before his stories were even thought of. It was with that that I began looking into the Elven language. I was never one to have an interest in language, yet having already learned Italian, what was one more language to a young, war-torn man.” Rossi said, silence filling the plane after his tale. “And I thought I was the geeky one.” Reid said, receiving laughs from everyone around the plane. “It may seem that old man Rossi is giving you a run for your money, kid.” Morgan piped up, getting an exclamation from Rossi and smiles from most everyone else. “For an old guy, I seem to be keeping up with you kids just fine.” Rossi said, returning his gaze back to Diana, her face alight with laughter, just as Hotch returned from the cockpit, seeming to desire to know when they were going to land. Practical Aaron, always keeping them on the right path towards catching all the killers and psychopaths they could.

“We land in 45 minutes. What do we have so far?” Aaron asked, taking his spot next to David. “Well, all the victims are woman with brown hair, their age ranging from early to late 20’s. Occupations are all medical, ranging from college students in medical school to doctors and nurses.” Emily piped up before returning her gaze to the file in her hand. “What can we determine about our unsub?”

“He’s male, and possibly someone that these women knew as there are no defensive wounds. They were not expecting his attack, and when he did come after them, they were taken by surprise.” Reid said, turning each picture around at different angles to get the best look possible. “But the report states that, while the women were found in secluded areas, they weren’t just dumped there. They were killed there also.” Diana murmured, shifting through her file again. “Toxicology reports that there were signs of a sedative in their system; Atarax specifically. And quite a large dose, it seems. Not enough to kill, but it would knock these victims out for a good long time. And these claw marks were made by while the victims were still alive. These women had slow, painful deaths.” Prentiss uttered before silence slid throughout the plane. A few moments passed before David broke the silence with another observation. 

“A serial killer that does it out in the open, however secluded, is an odd one. He meets them in a place he can control, but then moves them to another spot, also controlled and kills them there. But why go through such effort to move them? And how did he get them there? All of these drop sites are secluded enough from most any form of civilization that there would be no reason for each victim to meet our unsub there.” Rossi commented. 

“He is smart and craves that control. He may have transported them there, willingly or not. If he is mimicking the attacks of mountain lions, there could be some relation there. A solitary personality and he is only willing to interact with others when necessary, yet when he does, his personality emanates power and something to be desired. A different sort of Alpha male; something other than what we have encountered before.” Morgan commented, as he twisted his file around to get another angle. 

“Have you guys ever seen a case like this?” Diana inquired, her eyes lifting from her file to Rossi, and then the rest of the group. “We have never come across a case like this one, although there are similar cases we have worked on.” Hotch explained absentmindedly, going into no further detail. Diana nodded, accepting the answer and saying nothing more.

David felt sympathy for Diana; he understood how hard Hotch was to get used to, and he knew it might be a little while before Hotch would trust her as a part of the team. But David and the rest of the team were willing to put their faith in Diana, unless she showed herself to be incapable for this area of work. And there was a reason Hotch had looked into bringing her on. So far, she had proven herself useful on her first day; there was no doubt that she was good at this. And she was a beautiful woman with a brilliant mind it seemed, which made her all the more appealing to David. Yet he still did not know her very well, so he decided to keep all these thoughts to himself for the time being. It was in those few moments that he remembered the vow he had made to Emma Louise Taylor when they had been younger: “I will love you for the rest of my life.” 

Months after that vow had been made, she had married an up-and-coming judge and he had left for the Bureau with many memories to carry with him. He had wanted to marry her, yet when he saw her years ago on a trip to Manhattan, he had remembered the love he had had for her, but that was all it was: a memory. The love he held for her now was one of a friend, and she had fallen so deeply in love with her judge that their teenage escapades were all a distant memory to the both of them, despite the high regards they held for each other now. He had kept his promise; he did love her, just not in the way he had meant when he had said those words all those decades ago. Why these memories had come forward now, he could only guess. David Rossi did not let people in to his life unless he was sure they would stay; but now, he found himself wishing to let Diana McCall in quicker than he had ever wished to do so before. A strange feeling that was but before he could ponder on that thought further, Hotch’s voice brought him back to the present.

“Garcia, were you able to identify our victims?” Hotch asked as Penelope’s face popped up on the computer screen that had been set up on the table before them. “Why, yes I have, mon Capitan. Our first victim was a Biology major at Humboldt State University with the intention to transfer on to get her Doctorate. Her name was Lucy Hale. Our second, third, and fourth victims, Anna Larson, Samantha Anderson, and Arya Thomas, were pre-nursing students at various community colleges throughout the county. The last two victims were odd. Besides the weird wounds, of course, but these two were twins. Cara and Laura Murrey, both pre-veterinary students at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka. Now these two, according to records, were robbed of their precious lives at about the same time but one of them was moved to a separate site, where she was found by police.” Garcia said, her face showing how much she was disturbed by these deaths. One would think that she would be used to it by now but Penelope was comfortable in the world of technology, not the one of death. “Thank you, Baby Girl. Keep in touch and keep digging for us.” Morgan said as Garcia clicked off with a “you got it, handsome.”

“He is all over the place. No victim at the same location, even with the twins. And he is only keeping the victims for an average of three days so as of now, we have three days before there will be another body. That is, if we are aware of a missing woman when we land.” Rossi murmured, his voice hinting at his lack of positivity.  
“When we land, Reid and Morgan, I want you to go talk to the families of the most recent set of victims. JJ, the media will be on us the moment we land. I’ll need you to make a small statement, just to keep them off our tails for a bit and then I want you to join Prentiss back at the Eureka Police Department to look through the files they have on these murders, and ones like them. That will be the central place for this case. McCall, I want you and Rossi to go to the morgue to look at all the bodies of all the victims, and then pay a visit to the drop sites. I’ll be talking to the families of the victims to see what I can find, before meeting McCall and Rossi at the drop sites. Meet back at the station when done.” Hotchner said, closing his file as they all felt the plane begin to descend. 

As David shifted in his seat, he saw Diana subconsciously reach up and twirl a piece of her hair between her fingers. Each person had a nervous habit, and if you watched closely enough, you could see what their habit was; and he believed that he just found Diana’s nervous tick, although her demeanor had him believing she held a distrust greater than simply being among people she did not know. There was something, some memory, she was afraid of, subconsciously or not. “Are you ready for this?” He inquired of her, his voice quiet. He did not intend for the question to be demeaning in any manner, and he hoped she did not take the question as such. Her eyes lifted to his and her hand dropped from her hair before sitting up with a soft smile. 

“If I remember correctly, a one William Shakespeare said ‘all things are ready, if the mind be so.’” She murmured, confirming in her own way that she was as ready as she could ever be. “Rightly so.” Rossi murmured, gripping the armrests of his chair to ease the bump of the plane as it landed on the runway. Too many times had he walked away with a bit of whiplash because he had been ill-prepared for a landing. The sound of a sigh and a groan reached his ears and Rossi couldn’t help but smile as he observed Diana recover from the jolt of landing on the runway. She noticed the smile on his face and gave a huff and a roll of her eyes before averting her eyes out the window to watch the runway pass by. 

The sky was a stunning shade of blue, ranging from deep azure to the lightest of blues as sunlight filtered through the sky. Few clouds occupied the air above them, which provided the sunlight to filter down to earth, bathing them in sunlight as their party descended from the plane.

“Why must we choose places that are so humid?” Emily complained, slipping out of the leather jacket she had been wearing on the plane. “California doesn’t get humid all that often. We just are not used to the dry air. It’s different than the air in Quantico.” Reid commented, to which he received a piercing glare from Emily. Diana smiled a bit, looking down as they moved from runway to inside the airport terminal, where they were greeted by a few local police officers. 

“You must be Chief Ashton. Jennifer; we spoke on the phone.” J.J. said, stepping forward to introduce herself, as well as the rest of the team. “These are Agents Prentiss, Morgan, Hotchner, Rossi, and McCall, as well as Doctor Reid.” J.J. murmured, gesturing to each of them as she spoke their name. “Welcome. Let’s get started.” Ashton said, gesturing without so much as a smile, for them to follow after him and his officers. With quick glances between each other, the team followed after their escorts without a word. Sunshine and a serial killer with a flair for the dramatic; what a case this would be.


End file.
